As expected

The moment I was handed the free toy that came with the niece's popcorn meal, I knew who it would end up with. The brother didn't prove me wrong as he put together his new Lego toy as soon as he noticed it.

Gaining new respect for cashiers

I took my first stab at self-scanning yesterday. After registration, I was asked whether I knew how to operate the handheld scanner and since the brother had self-scanned when we did the groceries two weeks ago, I said yes. As it turns out, I didn't.

I started by scanning something by mistake and then sheepishly had to ask for help with deleting it. Afterwards, I tried to scan three items with no success until I realized that I was supposed to scan the bar codes on the items themselves and not the ones posted on the shelves --- something I should have already known after the shopping trip with the brother.

The rest of my little adventure went quite smoothly. I liked having a running total and bagged the items as I went, which was one important lesson I'd learned from the previous visit.

Had oodles of trouble scanning my final purchase, a bag of honey roasted nuts, and had to try to move the nuts around the bag to flatten the area with the bar code, but I persevered.

[Photo taken at 1839 yesterday.]

Why hello neighbor!

I find this row of 7 houses on campus --- as far as I know, the only on-campus housing --- oddly fascinating. It must be so great to do without the morning commute. Of course, I'm only assuming that the residents work at Karolinska. Who knows, maybe they just wanted to live next door to Smittskyddsinstitutet (Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control).

To be fair...

There was some eye-catching tile art by the entrance of the Rockefeller lecture hall.

As an added bonus, it finally got me to use the panorama function!

Great or dashed?

When I saw the room assignment for this morning, my interest was piqued.

The first thing I noticed upon arriving was this sign. I would have thought the budget for a lecture hall called "Rockefeller" would also have covered the cost of a spiffy sign.

How fitting that the first lecture for today was on the subject of cognition and partly dealt with expectations.

Luuunch!!!

'Nuff said.

Eina's Sense of Snow

Move over Smilla!

Spotted something mysterious in the snow...or maybe not. Methinks it's a dead rat, but I can't come any closer to confirm my hypothesis.

Passed the oral exam --- just barely. Now waiting for the train home.

With less than 10 hours left until exam time

...I finally discover that physiology --- and even my big fat textbook --- is actually interesting. Couldn't this epiphany have come days ago?

Or I am just delirious?

A victory is a victory, no matter how small

...or so I try to tell myself.

Was getting nowhere trying to read 300+ pages of my big fat physiology book (a.k.a. bedtime story), so I borrowed this book from the library on Friday.

I finally finished reading the 60 pages or so on circulation and respiration. 20 pages/day = mucho disappointing...and there wasn't even that much text on each page! Paging the Motivation Fairy!

Now I guess it's time to hit the handouts and I may even be forced to give that bedtime story yet another go.

Surprise, surprise, another entry about food!

Haven't been posting recently as I have been busy trying to force myself to study --- with very little success, I must admit.

Baked banana cupcakes to make use of some overripe bananas. In case a certain friend is wondering...yes, this will be added to my fruit&veggie tally for today. Plus, don't I deserve props for nixing the frosting?

Taking the chai latte plunge

Chai latte is mentioned over and over again in many of the blogs I follow, so I finally gave it a shot. Not bad, not bad at all...think hot cinnamon-y sweetened milk.

Ooh, I liked the Espresso House brownie more than the one from Wayne's Coffee, but why, oh why, do they both serve them cold?!

[Photo taken at 1605 today.]

Not a big fan of never-ending escalators

...mainly because I don't want to touch the railing, but also because I apparently have a fear of heights and because I worry that I'll tip over backwards when I stand still for too long.

Anyhoo, I opted for the elevator --- which moves diagonally instead of vertically --- and this is a photo of the elevator shaft.

[Photo taken at 1335 today.]

The aftermath

This is what I ended up eating instead.

[Photo taken at 1404 today.]

Best laid plans

Our school made arrangements for us to complete our vaccinations at some private clinic in Östermalm.

Always eager to eat lunch somewhere other than the school restaurant, I started searching for restaurants in the area and settled on a place called Creperie le Bakery because they were offering brunch even on weekdays.

So there I was, all primed to dine on Caesar salad, a parma and cream cheese baguette, fruit salad, crepes with cream and jam, orange juice and coffee, only to be met by this sign: "Soon a new restaurant will open here. Cuisine from the Far East. Even Thai takeaway."

Blurgh!

[Photo taken at 1348 today.]

Color me lazy

Is it wrong to admit that I love all the Xs in the schedule for next week?

Must try to get oodles of studying done though since we'll have an oral exam the following week.

Oh yeah, we have an idrottsdag (sports day) every semester. Last semester, my sport of choice was doing laundry.

Meet the minisemla

Spotted this at the school restaurant yesterday and planned to buy some to take home, but they'd run out by the time my classes were done.

Had better luck today. They cost almost as much as the regular size, but are cuter and come with half the guilt. As Rachael Ray would say, "Yum-o!"

High time for the nail clipper

Chipped a nail yesterday and still haven't taken care of it.

Behold!

This is one of the few times I've returned from the store without buying any junk food.

Was planning to buy some fruit, but all the choices were kinda sad-looking.

The headline for today is...

"15-year old charged --- said 'oink' to policemen"

And no, I kid you not. So if you're ever in Sweden, remember to ixnay the oinkay.

Celebrating my return to the land of the eating

The "fun" began when I woke up at 0400 on Friday needing to puke. I suspect I may have overdosed on caffeine by consuming 15 or so chocolate-covered coffee beans, two cups of coffee and a can of cola in quick succession.

I finally feel well enough to resume my normal eating habits.

This is a bag of rice

So why did they put chickens* on the bag? To torture me?

[*Plural because there are two more on the back of the bag.]

Were the letters on this eye chart chosen randomly?

Or was someone trying to send a message?

Happy 100th post to me!

Bought semlor from a café today because it was Mumsy's birthday yesterday.

Semlor probably qualify as her favorite Swedish food. When she visited last summer, we went semla-hunting. Alas, semlor only come out to play from February to April. I tried making my own, but they ended up too bready --- must have overworked the dough --- and a bit too...um...well-done.

Anyway, since Mumsy's on the other side of the planet, we were gracious enough to eat the semlor on her behalf.

The grocery also sells semlor, but I steered clear of those because they were just sitting at room temperature despite all that cream filling. Plus, I find it disconcerting that they are still selling lussekatter although it's already February. Those lussekatter are quite a steal at just 10 Swedish crowns for 4 pieces though, if anyone's interested.

Not all goat cheese is created equal

We've made goat-cheese-with-honey-and-almonds-on-toast numerous times, but this is the first time we've used Norwegian goat cheese.

The cheese we normally use is pale yellow and on one occasion, we had white cheese instead. However, this time around, I was so surprised by the color that I had the brother google how Norwegian goat cheese should look.

So C, what have your countrymen done to those goats?